Minneapolis City Council adopts resolutions honoring International Transgender Day of Visibility and National Stress Awareness Month

The Minneapolis City Council on March 27 adopted two honorary resolutions: one recognizing March 31, 2025, as International Transgender Day of Visibility and another declaring April 2025 as National Stress Awareness Month.

Councilmember Andrea Jenkins (Ward 8) presented the International Transgender Day of Visibility resolution. Jenkins described the city’s history of transgender‑equity work and cited efforts including a transgender issues work group (created 2014) and a Transgender Equity Council (created 2017). Jenkins noted the city amended its civil rights ordinance in 1975 to add protections for gender identity and highlighted local events: “In the fall of this year the city of Minneapolis will proudly host the tenth annual trans equity summit,” Jenkins said, adding that the summit draws “upwards of 300 attendees.”

Kat Roan, executive director of OutFront Minnesota, and other community leaders spoke in support. Roan, who said the group recently hosted a youth summit with roughly 450 youth from across the state, said symbolic acts of recognition matter to young people facing heightened national hostility: “Visibility is being weaponized against our communities,” Roan said. She urged continued leadership at all government levels to protect access to identity documents and health care.

The resolution recognizing April as National Stress Awareness Month was authored by Councilmembers Wansley, Palmisano and Jenkins. Mary Ann Johnson of the Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota accepted the proclamation and described the center’s research, academic programs and community offerings to mitigate stress and support resilience. Director Odom (city wellness) and 911 dispatch leadership also spoke, noting the high stress of first responders and the city’s plans for employee wellness programming, including a second annual city wellness month in June.

Both honorary resolutions were adopted by roll call during the meeting. The council’s formal adoption noted the city’s long‑standing transgender protections and called for continuing work to reduce disparities in employment, health care, safety and housing for transgender and gender‑nonconforming people; the stress awareness resolution encouraged residents to use local wellbeing resources and spotlighted the city’s employee wellness efforts.